O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
(O Emmanuel Antiphon )
We come to the conclusion of our reflections with O Emmanuel, O God with us. This antiphon truly crowns all the titles of God, for it is in the mystery of the Incarnation that we come to know our God.
All the other titles and the prophecies are brought to their fulfilment in Jesus’ Incarnation. To be the key of David, the root of Jesse, the morning star, and so on – these would all be wondrous insights to God on their own, but to have them within a God who is so loving and humble, that he came to earth as a vulnerable baby, to live and die to save us from the bondage of our sins and to offer us eternal life, is extraordinary.
In John’s gospel the importance of this singular fact is present from the very beginning – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.” (John 1.14)
Everything which follows, Jesus’ life and ministry, his death and resurrection and ascension, all occur because he was born at all.
John stresses that Jesus, the Word, pre-existed before his birth, holding this in tension with his fully human existence (“made flesh”). We sing this every Christmas, “God of God, Light of Light, lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb.”
Furthermore, those words that The Word “dwelt among us” are also important. There is a link to the dwelling of Wisdom in Israel (Sirach 24.8), and the traditional link between the Logos and Sophia, both expressions of God’s Wisdom.
In the Old Testament, whilst the Israelites were in the wilderness, they had a holy meeting Tent, the place of God’s dwelling among His special people, and that word we know as ‘tabernacle’.
The Jewish Feast of Sukkot (which translates as the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths) is a Torah-commanded holiday which we know Jesus celebrated (John 7), and indeed was pressed to reveal himself at before His hour had come.
And at the Transfiguration, Peter felt moved to offer to build tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah – an echo of God’s dwelling or tabernacling with his people.
It is why we call the place where we keep the reserved sacrament the tabernacle, for God still dwells with us.
If we turn our attention to the last words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel we are reminded how that is still the case:
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.19b)
Everything about the Christmas story reminds us that we do not worship an absentee landlord of a god. Our God is fully present with us, knows and loves us, and is involved in our lives. In our prayers we open our hearts to God and invite His Holy Spirit to be at work in us and in the world. At Christmas we celebrate the intimacy of God’s relationship with us. At the Eucharist heaven and earth touch, and Christ is present in bread and wine, body and blood.
If this is all true, then how can we respond except by falling to our knees in wonder and praise? For our God is with us.
So this Advent – reflect on God’s presence in your life, and take a little time to prepare yourself before you come to worship the Christ-child this Christmas – like the shepherds with obedience and humility, like the Magi with wisdom and trust, like Mary and Joseph with all the love in your hearts.